Elgin County Greenway Mapping Methodology
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Elgin Greenway Conservation Action Plan Prepared by Jarmo Jalava, Stanley Caveney, Mark Carabetta, Daria Koscinski, Rhonda Donley and the Elgin Greenway CAP Development Team Carolinian Canada Coalition In partnership with Ontario Nature & the Thames Talbot Land Trust Assistance for this project was provided by the Government of Ontario and Environment Environnement Canada Canada Habitat Stewardship Program for Species At Risk i Recommended citation: Jalava, J.V., S. Caveney, M. Carabetta, D. Koscinski, R. Donley and the Elgin Greenway CAP Development Team. 2012. Elgin Greenway Conservation Action Plan. Carolinian Canada Coalition, London, Ontario. x + 53 pp. + appendices. Cover photo © John St. Pierre ii Table of Contents Plan Authors, CAP Team and Contributors .................................................................... iv i. Background & Rationale ............................................................................................. vi 1. Conservation Context....................................................................................................1 i. Geographic Context .......................................................................................................1 ii. Historical, Cultural and Socioeconomic Context .........................................................2 iii. Ecological Context ......................................................................................................4 iv. Natural Cover / Ecosystem Types .............................................................................10 v. Dominant Environmental Processes ...........................................................................13 vi. Significant Species .....................................................................................................17 2. Biodiversity Targets and Associated Threats .............................................................22 i. Conservation Targets ...................................................................................................22 ii. Threats ........................................................................................................................26 3. Objectives and Strategies ............................................................................................39 i. Conservation Objectives ..............................................................................................39 ii. Strategic Actions and Action Steps ............................................................................41 References .......................................................................................................................52 Appendix A. Elgin County Greenway Mapping Methodology ......................................54 Appendix B. Natural Heritage Designations ..................................................................57 Appendix C. Recommended Activities in Selected SAR Recovery Strategies ..............60 Appendix D. Species-specific Threats to Elgin Greenway SAR ....................................63 List of Figures Figure 1.1. General location of the Elgin Greenway CAP Area .......................................1 Figure 1.2. Elgin Greenway CAP Area. ..........................................................................6 Figure 1.3. Kettle Creek, one of several creeks…that drain into Lake Erie .....................7 Figure 1.4. Rapidly eroding bluffs along the Lake Erie shoreline ....................................9 Figure 1.5. Deciduous forest at Bayham Ravine, East Elgin ..........................................11 Figure 1.6. Clearville Creek ............................................................................................15 Figure 1.7. Topography and major streams in the Elgin Greenway CAP area. ..............16 Figure 1.8. The threatened False Rue-anemone ..............................................................17 Figure 1.9. Roads fragment habitat and cause animal mortality .....................................26 List of Tables Table 1.1. Summary of Population Information in the Elgin Greenway CAP area ..........3 Table 1.2. Natural Heritage Designations – Elgin Greenway CAP area ........................10 Table 1.3. Globally and Provincially Rare Vegetation Communities ............................12 Table 1.4. Significant Species – Elgin Greenway CAP Area .........................................17 Table 1.5. Conservation Targets .....................................................................................22 Table 1.6. Conservation Target Viability .......................................................................24 Table 1.7. Summary of Threats – Elgin Greenway CAP ...............................................27 Table 1.8. Additional Comments on Sources of Threats ...............................................33 iii Elgin Greenway Conservation Action Plan (CAP) PLAN AUTHOR(S) Name Role Organization Email Jalava, Jarmo Coordinator, Ecosystem Carolinian Canada Coalition [email protected] Recovery Program Caveney, Stanley Past President Thames Talbot Land Trust [email protected] Carabetta, Mark Conservation Science Manager Ontario Nature Donley, Rhonda Conservation Action Planning Carolinian Canada Coalition [email protected] Daria Koscinski Conservation Action Planning Carolinian Canada Coalition [email protected] CAP Team and Contributors: Ron Allenson, Otter Valley Field Naturalists Irene Bouris, St. Thomas Field Naturalists Club Jane Bowles, Thames Talbot Land Trust Amber Cowie, Ontario Nature Mark Carabetta, Ontario Nature Ron Casier, Elgin Stewardship Council / St. Thomas Field Naturalists Club Stan Caveney, Thames Talbot Land Trust Eric Cleland, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources / Elgin Stewardship Council Chris Dancey, National Farmers Union Graham Decow, Elgin Stewardship Council Tony Difazio, Catfish Creek Conservation Authority Rhonda Donley, Carolinian Canada Coalition Jennifer Dow, Kettle Creek Conservation Authority Dan Dufour, Carolinian Canada Coalition Cliff Evanitski, Long Point Region Conservation Authority Steve Evans, Elgin County Paul Gagnon, Long Point Region Conservation Authority John Glass, Otter Valley Field Naturalists Don Gordon, Thames Talbot Land Trust Ron Gould, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Jarmo Jalava, Carolinian Canada Coalition Catherine Jong, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Don Miller, Elgin Federation of Agriculture Said Mohamed, Carolinian Canada Coalition Cathy Quinlan, Thames Talbot Land Trust Kim Smale, Catfish Creek Conservation Authority Joe Stephenson, Otter Valley Field Naturalists Steve Timmermans, Thames Talbot Land Trust Valerie Towsley, Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority Brian Widner, Kettle Creek Conservation Authority Joshua Wise, Ontario Nature CAP Team members indicated in bold. iv The following individuals or organisations have contributed to the development of the Elgin Greenway CAP, but have not attended the workshops: Wendy Cridland, The Nature Conservancy of Canada Jerry Campbell, Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority Mark Emery, Elgin Stewardship Council Roberta Gillard, Elgin Federation of Agriculture Andrea Hebb, The Nature Conservancy of Canada Megan Ihrig, Carolinian Canada Coalition John St. Pierre Ed Ketchabaw, Elgin Federation of Agriculture Elizabeth Van Hooren, Kettle Creek Conservation Authority Thank you to the CAP team and contributors. v Elgin Greenway Conservation Action Plan ELGIN GREENWAY CONSERVATION ACTION PLAN i. BACKGROUND & RATIONALE Conservation Action Planning in Canada’s Carolinian Life Zone Elgin County is situated in the heart of Ecoregion 7E, an area extending from Toronto to Grand Bend, south to Niagara Falls and the western Lake Erie islands. This ecoregion is colloquially known as Canada’s “Carolinian life zone”, or simply “Carolinian Canada” because many plants and animals found in the eastern United States as far south as the Carolinas reach their northern limit in this part of Ontario. The Carolinian life zone occupies less than 0.25% of Canada’s landmass, yet it provides habitat for over 40% of Canada’s plant species and an equally large proportion of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna. At the same time, one quarter of Canada’s human population lives in the region, the nation’s industrial and economic heartland. As a result, extensive conversion to human land uses has occurred. In southern Ontario, 94% of upland forests were cleared over the past two centuries, while more than 70% of all pre- settlement wetlands have been converted, and up to 99% of prairies and savannahs have been lost. On a heavily-modified working landscape such as this, habitat fragmentation has reduced most natural areas to sizes much smaller than is required to maintain basic ecological functions and diverse, resilient biological communities. Overall, natural cover across the Carolinian life zone now ranges from less than 7% in some areas to below 18% in others, with Elgin County falling between these two extremes. These high levels of land conversion mean that many of the essential ecological processes needed for healthy soils, clean water and clean air have been severely compromised. For these reasons, combined with the fact that many of the species found here are near the northern limits of their distribution, the ecoregion has the greatest number and concentration of Species At Risk (SAR) in Canada. At least 50 of them occur in Elgin County. More than 500 additional plant and animal species found in the zone are recognized to be at some level of